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Zhuang Zi
Zhuang Zi is an avatar from the ALICE China Branch, and is a highly respected yet somewhat scatterbrained professor from the Department of Heavenly Principles of Taixue. He is proficient in many skilled sword and meditation techniques, even those that are difficult for non Immortals to master. He (or quite possibly someone with his appearance) suggested that Sima Qian look into what caused the Four Perils to be unsealed, and gives her a special key that she later uses to power her Records of the Grand Historian device to time travel. However, the key caused Leifeng Pagoda to lose power, which allowed Hun Dun to escape. This led to the arrest of Sima Qian and the adapter, and once they escape they try to find Zhuang Zi for answers. Han Fei apparently investigated Zhuang Zi, and left a message with Xun Zi to watch out for him. It is shortly discovered after this that Zhuang Zi has a friend from the Department of Heavenly Principles, Hui Shi, who is trying to form an anti-QIN alliance. Supposedly Zhuang Zi disagreed with Hui Shi on this matter, as he believed the alliance would only add to the chaos and cause more violence.. Sima Qian and the others head to find Hui Shi to learn more about Zhuang Zi. On the way there, however, they find Zhuang Zi on a bridge. Ban Chao rushes to confront him immediately instead of waiting like Ban Zhao tried to tell her. However, Zhuang Zi says this is the first time he's met Sima Qian, despite Sima Qian remembering him asking her to look into the Four Perils previously. He mentioned that while the Department of Heavenly Principles were looking into the Four Perils, they never approached Sima Qian about it. He also mentions that the key appears to be for a database known as the Three Officials System. Once they meet Hui Shi, Hui Shi sends Yuan Shao to capture the adapter and the others due to their status as wanted criminals, so Zhuang Zi helps fight back against them. He soon fights Hui Shi directly, but he pretends to make a mistake to lure Zhuang Zi from the others, and grabs him and leaves while the others have to deal with Yuan Shao's goons. Hui Shi and Zhuang Zi get into an argument, with Zhuang Zi saying that the wanted status of the adapter and the others was issued by the Sages of Justice and has nothing to do with Taixue. Hui Shi mentions that he invited Zhuang Zi to the anti-QIN alliance to protect him due to him coming under suspicion from the Sages of Justice due to Sima Qian's story. Zhuang Zi tells Hui Shi that what he is doing isn't doing the world a favor and will only cause more violence, and the two fail to reach an agreement. During the incidents at No Man's Island, Zhuang Zi managed to rescue Ban Zhao after her boat was destroyed while fishing, and helped her get back under the care of the Ink Army. Later Han Fei reveals more details about Zhuang Zi, particularly that he was her teacher, but didn't really advise her much while she was writing her thesis on the history of the China Branch. He wasn't even present in the Department of Heavenly Principles most of the time. However, after he taught her some swordplay and then left with a friend, he came back seemingly a completely different person, and actively advised her on her research which later became a nightmare for her. Han Fei's thesis never got released, and she suspected it to be Zhuang Zi's doing, and she now views him as scheming and manipulative. After Sima Qian and the others return from the Moon Palace after dealing with the Ghost City incident, they find themselves in a confrontation with Nan Hua and the Anti-Four Perils Taskforce. After Ban Chao challenges Nan Hua to a duel, he deflects her bullets and reflects them towards her, but Zhuang Zi arrives to cut down the bullets. Zhuang Zi then says that while he respects that the Anti-Four Perils Taskforce want to apprehend fugitives, he asks if they can graciously let them go, as Taixue is meant to be a place for academic activities. Nan Hua agrees due to Zhuang Zi's position in the Department of Heavenly Principles. Zhuang Zi then asks if they shall "discuss our understanding of the principles", basically inviting him to a duel. Nan Hua agrees and covers the area in a swarm of butterflies to conceal his presence, but when he attacks, Zhuang Zi manages to block the attack with his eyes closed and using his sheath. Nan Hua backs down immediately, and orders the retreat of the Anti-Four Perils Taskforce and the Sages of Justice. Ban Chao asks how he detected Nan Hua's attack, and he responds that he just felt the flow of the ambiance with his mind, and that anyone could do it if they felt with their heart. He then invites the group into his lab. Once inside, they find that his lab is quite messy, although he just tells them that they haven't grasped the flow of the room yet. Ban Chao thanks him for saving Ban Zhao and apologizes for what happened when they first met. Zhuang Zi doesn't remember her hostile actions upon seeing him the first time, and remarks that it was just a coincidence that he saved Ban Zhao while fishing. Zhuang Zi then asks Sima Qian about recent events, and inquires about her discussions with Han Fei. Upon hearing what she has to say, Zhuang Zi says that he never advised her on her thesis and was surprised that she managed to finish it on her own. He mentions that he can't even remember what her paper was on, which prompts Sima Qian to tell him and ask him if he still had her paper. He just says he remembers her confronting him, asking what happened to her paper at one point, but since he didn't do anything she just ran off angrily. Hui Shi soon arrives, and becomes quite angry at Zhuang Zi for still working with wanted criminals. After an argument that doesn't really get anywhere, Zhuang Zi continues his discussion with Sima Qian. She asks if she can look into the Department of Heavenly Principles' server room to try and find Han Fei's paper. Hui Shi is mad at her for even thinking of asking, but Zhuang Zi allows her to do so as the knowledge should belong to everyone. The group then starts looking into things at the server room. Overnight, Zhuang Zi sleeps on the floor while Ban Chao sleeps in his dormitory. They are waken up by Hui Shi, who is annoyed that Zhuang Zi let Ban Chao into his dormitory when Hui Shi had never been allowed inside. They soon go back to the server room, just as Sima Qian finally manages to locate the file. She states that whoever had originally deleted Han Fei's thesis had been careful to hide their tracks, even tampering with the edit history. Hui Shi just remarks that it would be impossible for Zhuang Zi to spend that much time on something, and that he would have nothing to gain from it. Sima Qian reads the thesis to gain more information on the past of the China Branch, and shares it with Zhuang Zi. Zhuang Zi mentions that when he had brought Ban Zhao to the Ink Army headquarters, she seemed to have gotten to work on Shi Ji, although he didn't know what it was. He offers to take the group there, despite Hui Shi's annoyance, and even asks Hui Shi to come along. Huainanzi, a student of his, asks about classes, and he just assigns individual study to his class. After they arrive at the Ink Army headquarters, Ban Zhao explains the modifications to Shi Ji and how they should be able to use it again. Sima Qian is reluctant to use it after all the trouble she caused other people last time, but Zhuang Zi advises her to just go with the flow of history since she already ended up caught in its tides. Hui Shi gets into another argument, and expresses his surprise that Mo Zi and the Ink Army would work with wanted criminals rather than his anti-QIN alliance. Zhuang Zi just tells him that this is why he brought him there, to see that many did not view the alliance as the solution to current problems. Zhuang Zi asks to join them on this trip to the past, and the others decide to let him join as a bodyguard since the time of the Four Perils is so dangerous. Hui Shi is greatly concerned for Zhuang Zi's safety, but Zhuang Zi assures him he will be fine. He then joins Sima Qian, Lu Ban, and the adapter in travelling to the past. Once there, they find it more desolate than they anticipated, and investigate the surrounding damage as well as the damage to the main headquarters of the China Branch. They soon discover that the Four Perils weren't created by a hacking attack, but rather from the failure of Jin Yun to delete Gun, which had caused Gun to return and wreck havoc, and being renamed as Taowu. Zhuang Zi soon realizes that they are not alone in the building and warns the others, and they are soon approached by Ba Kai and Ba Yuan. After some discussions to lower tensions (and where Zhuang Zi almost gives away that they are from the future), they are brought to the new headquarters to meet Shun, the Grand Administrative AI of the time. Shun explains the situation, and the group finds out that the past has actually been altered from their previous journey, although they do not mention it at the time. He goes with the others to assist in defending the base from rebelling AI that sided with Taowu, mainly Xiang and Danzhu. He manages to block a surprise attack from Xiang, and assists in defeating him. Before they go to assist E Huang and Nü Ying, he notices Sima Qian's troubled expression, and she expresses her concerns about breaking the biggest taboo for a historian, which is changing the past. Zhuang Zi and her discuss the matter, and agree the right thing to do is to go along with the flow of history and make sure it takes the right course. They go on to fight and defeat Danzhu as well. They are soon called back to the new headquarters in order to deal with the Four Perils having altered the old headquarters into a Tower of Four Perils. Zhuang Zi once again almost reveals they are from the future by referring to the Four Perils as ancient demons, but Sima Qian just assures the people there that Zhuang Zi speaks nonsense at times. They soon arrive at the Tower, and Sima Qian asks Zhuang Zi if he really is able to break the illusions created by Sage Arts, but he just responds that he isn't breaking the illusions so much as not being fooled by them. The two also discuss their concerns about Taowu trying to manipulate them to take control of their avatars, and both worriedly look at Lu Ban as she is the most easily manipulated of the group. He advances through the Tower fighting off enemies, and assists in defeating Taotie and Qiong Qi. Oddly enough, Qiong Qi, who is able to smell the good and evil from an avatar, found Zhuang Zi to be "scentless". After Qiong Qi had caused E Huang to go berserk and attack her as her battle desires to protect Shun were no longer suppressed, and Zhuang Zi muses on about the paradox of moral constraints. As they go up the Tower, they eventually reach Hun Dun's floor. Zhuang Zi is able to sense that the room is filled with many of Hun Dun's puppets, and once they are inside he can detect that one of them is acting differently from the others. The puppet seems to turn into Hun Dun, but after it is defeated Zhuang Zi warns Nü Ying that the real Hun Dun is behind her, but it is too late. E Huang and Nü Ying are greatly injured in the following encounter, and are brought downstairs to makeshift medical pods that Lu Ban created. When they reach the final floor, Zhuang Zi and Ba Yuan are both unable to detect anything inside the room, and Sima Qian assumes that this is likely because Taowu had created a Nightmare Space. Ba Yuan asks Zhuang Zi to guide them in the Nightmare Space, and he tells them to just remain calm. Inside, they do battle against the Four Perils during the time of Gong Gong, and manage to get past the illusion. During the ensuing fight with Taowu, she manages to cast an illusion on Ba Kai and Sima Qian, but Zhuang Zi manages to free them from the illusion. Taowu, finding this annoying, uses her admin authority to teleport Zhuang Zi all the way to the first floor of the Tower. Zhuang Zi manages to run all the way back up, but not before both Ba Kai and Ba Yuan sacrifice themselves in order to wound Taowu. Zhuang Zi tells Sima Qian they can't idly stand by anymore, and need to ensure the proper history is followed, which needs Shun to seal away Taowu in this battle. Zhuang Zi explains to the adapter that they need to use their special privileges to speed up Shun's computational power so she can defeat Taowu. The adapter does so, and both Zhuang Zi and Sima Qian attack Taowu. Taowu tries to cast another Nightmare Space, but Zhuang Zi is able to dispel it almost immediately. Through their attacks, Shun is able to defeat Taowu and seal her away. Zhuang Zi assists with bringing the injured downstairs once again. They soon discuss that they should probably leave to the present at this point as there is little they can do, and the Supreme Council would most likely want to arrest them. The group returns to the present, and Hui Shi is relieved to see that Zhuang Zi is safe. However, they soon discover that Sima Qian and Lu Ban did not make it back with them. He appears similar to Nan Hua, but it is unknown if the two are actually related. He is voiced by Shinnosuke Tachibana. Background Quest Appearances * The Two Historians (Story only) * A Human Conflict (Story only) * A Hero's Value (Story only) * Time Travel Investigation II * The Venom of Revenge (Story only) * Failed Wolf's Howl (Story only) * Tower of Four Perils (Story only) Skill and Crash Panel Lines ???★ Form Interactions Relationships Trivia Category:Voiced Units